Yesterday’s Jungceylon/SEAYachting Race Day from Ao Po to Koh Yao Noi was followed by today’s Raymarine’s Race Day. But the star of the show by far was seven-year-old Tanya Zhang who joined her mother, Yvonne, as crew on John Hearne’s Pi Jui Express. Already a dinghy sailor, the exuberance and can-do attitude this young girl carries with her wasn’t lost on anyone and it’s a credit to her single mom raising her.

Participants in the 23rd Bay Regatta continued to enjoy great sailing weather as the party that sails around continued to do just that. World Sailing International Race Officer Simon James staged two starts for the RAymarine Ko Yao to Krabu Race: first off were all the multihulls followed by all the monohulls and again there were no major incidents to report – just a nice clear spinnaker run down Phang Nga Bay.

The Raymarine 20nm course for the racing class and racing multis left from east of Koh Yao Noi, rounded to starboard Koh Pang, passing Koh Pak Bia, and then past Koh Ka to starboard through the gate at Koh Heng (keeping the committee boat to port), then rounded Koh Ngang to port before passing between Koh Deng and Koh Samet and finally finishing between the committee boat and Koh Ya Man. The 18nm course for the rest of the classes followed much of the same route except the boats didn’t round Koh Ngang.

The Racing Class saw Megazip, skipped by Alexey Mashkin place first followed by John Hearne’s Pi Jui Express, starring Tanya Zhang with Aquari skipped by Craig Nichols coming in third and John Kara’s crew on Insanity finishing fourth.

Cruising A saw Paul Merry’s Night Train took the top spot for the second day in a row with Garry Smith’s Resolution of Whitby in second spot, Steve McConaghy’s Jing Jing in third and Brendon Roscoe’s Lola in fourth.

In the Cruising B class, Sergei Kataev’s Turtle edged out Tessana Mahasamuth’s Thai Team who were followed by Steve Joos’ Sengawa and Oleg Samolov’s Winds of Change in the four-boat class.

In the three-boat Bareboat Class, Kinnon, helmed by Evgenii Nikiforov, and Venture, skippered by Anna Afonia, flip-flopped finished their one-two placings from yesterday and AllSail Angela helmed by Russell Waddy came in third again.

In the hyper-competitive Racing Multihull class Alan Cawardine’s Phantom 5, Dan Fidock’s Fugazi 3 (line honors), John Newnham’s Twin Sharks took the top three spots with Glywn Rowlands’ Twister 2,George Eddings’ Blue Noze, Mark Thornborrow’s Bonza, and Dirk Weiblen’s No Fear rounding out the class.

The Cruising Multis class saw Mark Horwood’s Charro edge out Andrew de Bruin’s Multihull Solutions Neel 51 by seven seconds.

In the deep channels between the spectacular, vertical rock walls, the Bay Regatta’s philosophy of fun-amidst-beauty shone through for all to see. The hallmark of this event is a casual, fun-filled atmosphere. Many friends join together to sail the four-day event and while the sailing is serious for many racing class yachts, a large number of cruisers join for the experience of sailing through some of the world’s most amazing maritime scenery.